Painted Monasteries of Romania

Gura Humorului is a logging town surrounded by beautiful farmland. It’s also the perfect base for visiting the painted monasteries of Southern Bucovina. Most travelers arrive by train from either Suceava or Cluj. With limited hotels, the best option is the free rooms provided by local families. Before the four solo voices of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy start ringing in your mind…free means empty in this case. With a little luck, chain-smoking Brenda will meet you at the train station waiting to offer you a room in her lovely mother’s home. There are plenty of houses advertising their rooms if Brenda isn’t wandering the area.

Staying with a local Romanian family will accentuate your experience. It will also provide you with a home-cooked breakfast. In the case of the Swiss woman I met at Brenda’s, it also provided extra security. As I left to hike thru scenic farms on the way to visiting Voronet Monastery (2.5 miles) and Humor Monastery (3.5 miles), Brenda’s mother requested, quietly, that I accompany her other guest. She feared for a foreign woman walking alone. That won’t happen at most hotels.
Family Picnic, Gura Humorului © Gennaro Salamone

Buses or taxis are available, in lieu of hiking, for travelers who prefer a more comfortable voyage. Be warned that it’s unlikely that a Romanian family will invite you to join them for a picnic by the river (see photo above) if bus transport is your choice.

The painted monasteries are the jewels of northeastern Romania. Their interior and exterior wall paintings feature frescoes of a variety of Biblical scenes including The Last Judgment. Voronet’s intense shades of blue and detailed imagery are pleasant to the eye. Humor is a smaller monastery with its own theme of frescoes adorning the interior and exterior walls. Its reddish-brown shades provide a contrast to the intense blue of Voronet. Each monastery was also fortified with walls to defend against the power of the Turkish Empire, which regularly invaded Romania in the centuries of their creation.
Voronet Monastery © Cristian Bortes

It’s recommended that you ask one of the local guides to gain a better understanding behind the meaning of the frescoes and scripture. The scenes are often self-explanatory, but there is a deeper and more significant message at each monastery. Additionally, there are areas of the frescoes that have faded over time. Only a professional will have the knowledge to fill in the missing pieces of the story. Consider bringing a prepared lunch to the monasteries too. The grounds are a comfortable place to relax for the afternoon.

Read about the perfect places to befriend a Buddhist monk.

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Gennaro Salamone is the founder and editor of Enduring Wanderlust. Feel free to contact him with questions, comments, or inquiries with reference to contributing a travel article or photograph for publication.

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